Rolex Testing

Earlier this month Rudy and I took Elani and we went up to Daytona to the Rolex 24 "Roar Before the 24" Testing...... It was a really nice day and Elani was so excited to see the fast cars. She actually sat on the hairpin turn in the bleachers and watched the cars come around the corner. She wasn't afraid and the loud noises of the cars didn't bother as we thought they might. I tried to get her to get our of the stroller to go over and see Juan Pablo Montoya, but she didn't want to, so I guess there was a little intimidated factor there. On our way out after a couple of hours, we let her walk as we passed some of the garages on the back side and she strolled along there like she knew what she was doing, she even picked up a piece of windshield tear-off that she had to take home with her to show her Papa. We are training this one right, exposing her early on to Racing of all kinds. One thing she did keep asking me, "Where's Jeff?", "Where's Jeff's Car?" Cute!

On the 8th of January we were in Daytona again for the NASCAR SPRINT CUP Testing and Fan Fest. We arrived at the track at 6:15 a.m. and we were the 45th car in line to get a wristband to get JEFF GORDON's autograph and for the gates to open at 9:00 a.m. We met up with a friend, Patty and her sister, from Maine while waiting and we had a lot to chat about to make the time go by quicker.

We had a great time. I took over 400 pictures and got quite a few autographs from the drivers through the garage windows and saw friends from JEFF GORDON NETWORK, too! We couldn't have asked for a better day and the weather totally cooperated too! We even got home before 9:00 p.m. This is just the boost we needed to get ready for the 50th running of the Daytona 500 on February 17th. I can hardly wait.

Hope we get to see you there!

January 2008 - Catch Up

WoW - I can't believe that I haven't updated this since before the new year. We've been so busy and things are finally starting to slow down a little for us (at least for a little while).

The weekend before Christmas we went to my mom's house for the weekend and took little Elani with us and we had a great time checking out the lights in Venice, seeing Mr. & Mrs. Santa Clause, at the beach, opening presents and just plain relaxing, too.

While in Chattanooga, on the days that our friends, GJ & Jan were at work, Rudy and I went to ROCK CITY for the Festival of Lights. It was absolutely gorgeous. We walked through the paths between the rock walls and stopped to take pictures on Lover's Leap. It was cold, but it was fun! We also did a little shopping and wandering in Chattanooga. Cully arrived on Friday and we took a trip up to Lookout Mountain again to Pointe Park for an afternoon stroll and more pictures of the mountainous scenery! I am anxious to see this country side in the spring or fall. One day we had breakfast at a neat little restaurant in downtown Chattanooga called MudPie. Excellent!!

We headed home on Sunday morning because I wasn't feeling well with the head cold and knew I would sleep better at home. Our New Year's Eve was quiet after going to dinner with Travis, Rosa & Elani and then the next couple of days we rested up to get ready for going back to work!